Marin youth sports: No room at the field

RACHEL DABORA, 14, loves playing soccer, and she insists it's not important that she must share a small soccer field with another team when practicing, and twisted her ankle playing on a bumpy field once because a real soccer field wasn't available, and had to practice in the dark once last December because there wasn't a field available earlier.

The trials and tribulations of the San Anselmo resident and member of the Marin FC 98 Blue soccer team are probably familiar to just about any young person who plays sports in Marin. Dabora says of her team's small, shared practice field at Larkspur's Hall Middle School, "We're lucky that we have a field and it's awesome that we get to play, because it's hard to get a field."

Whether it's soccer, baseball, lacrosse, basketball or any of a number of sports, there is a big demand for youth athletic facilities in Marin, and the supply doesn't meet the demand. Two major projects that could help meet that demand are pending, but have run into a buzz saw of opposition.

A $6 million to $8 million sports complex proposed at the San Rafael Airport is opposed by neighbors who have cited concerns about traffic, noise, lighting, environmental impacts, health and safety, among others. The airport has proposed a 35-foot-tall building along Gallinas Creek with two indoor soccer fields, a dance and gymnastics training center and a café selling wine and beer. The project has dragged on for years in the face of opposition.

Meanwhile, plans are still being drafted and no development applications have been submitted, but residents near a proposed 78-acre sports complex in Southern Novato are already voicing concerns.

As with the San Rafael complex, the neighborhood group is concerned about the traffic, noise, lighting, safety and environmental effects of the complex, which could encompass eight baseball diamonds, two soccer fields, a small stadium, a health club, a hotel and an indoor sports complex.

The Marin Sports Academy LLC of Kentfield has leased about 53 acres of landfill from the U.S. Army and hopes to negotiate a lease for 25 acres of adjacent land from the city. The project would be roughly bordered by Highway 101 to the southwest, Ammo Hill to the north and Portsmouth Drive to the southeast.

"Imagine the traffic," said Alan Berson, a founding member of Preserve South Novato, the group opposing the nascent sports complex. "This is a NASCAR-like enterprise. It's going to result in zillions of cars. Just like any athletic endeavor, they will be serving beer and wine. This will increase deaths. It's going to be a big problem."

Both projects could help Marin County meet developed park standards; five out of seven planning areas in the county fall short of the amount of developed parkland required by national standards, according to Marin's Countywide Plan. The planning area with the worst deficit: Novato.

"Marin is blessed with a wealth of open space and that kind of parkland, but what this is referring to here is active recreation facilities like baseball diamonds, soccer fields, basketball courts. For that active recreation, we're below these national targets," said Jack Liebster, a principal planner with Marin County.

"With the epidemic of childhood obesity, it's important to create an environment that makes it easy for children to be physically active," said Dana Weintraub, a pediatrician and clinical assistant professor at Lucille Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford. Children and adolescents should do an hour or more of physical activity each day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"My big area is for kids to participate in team sports because it can instill a lifelong love of physical activity — being a member of a team, increasing self-esteem, teaching leadership skills and lowering body mass index," Weintraub said.

But there's little space for kids to do it in Marin.

"If we had two or three more soccer fields, or room for rugby or lacrosse, we would be ecstatic," said Dick Whitley, recreation director for the city of Larkspur, which has two soccer fields.

"Because of the dearth of facilities, there are clubs that have to double-up practice. One will take one half of the field, the other will take the other half," Whitley said.

Demand is increasing, but inventory hasn't expanded in 10 years, the recreation director said.

"The demand for a wide range of developed facilities for active recreation continues to grow," according to the Countywide Plan, which advocates increasing the number of facilities.

The greatest demand is for soccer, Whitley said, and Little League and youth baseball are second in demand "because there are even fewer of these fields."

In comparison, "in the East Bay and other areas, like Las Vegas or Los Angeles or even up in Oregon, you can find soccer complexes with eight, 10, 12 soccer fields under lights. In Walnut Creek and Danville you can find multiple complexes with multiple fields off the same freeway exit," said Jon Bontz, director of operations for the Mill Valley Soccer Club.

The National Recreation and Park Association recommends one soccer facility per 20,000 people. Marin has one per 31,000 people.

"For Little League, there's only four fields in Novato and there are no other adequate practice facilities," said Eric Grover, president of Novato North Little League.

"There's three different leagues in Novato. Within your league there's always a struggle to allot practice times to everyone because of the lack of fields," Grover said.

Grover attended a presentation by the developers of the proposed Marin Sports Academy complex in Novato, and said he had a positive reaction.

"Obviously they are building it to have some tournaments. That is part of what is going to generate revenue to allow the facilities to succeed. But these tournaments won't be going every day all year round and there's going to be plenty of opportunities for community-based use," the Little League president said.

Dabora steadfastly refuses to complain about the conditions under which she practices. She did wistfully mention, "When you go to Modesto, you stand on one field and there will be 30 fields around you, and you go, 'Whoa! This is heaven. Fields everywhere!'"